Hey guys, my 1994 Jimmy is making a pretty nasty "clunking" sound whenever it hits a bump or corners with some body roll. It's coming from the front end, mostly from the passenger side but the driver's side makes some noise too. I heard that it might be bad sway bar bushings. What do you think? Is it serious? Thanks!

 

Sounds like broken sway bar end links. The sway bar bushings and end links are pretty easy to check. The end links typically break in half.

 

Thanks! I'll take a look tomorrow since its dark out. I should've checked earlier... I've just been so busy with my 1991 Trans Am lately to the point I've been kinda neglecting my poor Jimmy which has been good to me.

 

Very well could be. My 97 did that when I first got it, and the left linkage busted in half and the right wasn't far behind. I pointed it out to the 'not so' mechanically inclined dealer, they fixed it(put everything in backwards mind you), and it quit. But I did both sides myself after that anyway so everythings new and because they put it in backwards. But if that isn't it, it could be a-arm bushings, ball joints, spindle, etc. But if not the s.b. linkage, very likely ball joints. Blazers are known for steering and suspension problems. I swear mine front ends gunna fall out from under the truck someday, lmao. Good luck!

 

Thanks! And I doubt it's ball joints... they're brand new in my truck and it's been making the same sound before they got replaced.

Oh and I forgot to mention that I took a peek under my truck. Everything seemed intact... is there something I should look out for?

 

Well, after thinking that something couldn't possibly be right with my front end, I went underneath again and checked a bit deeper. Here's what I found:





You can actually see right through those gaps. These are the things where the sway-bar mounts to the control arms, what are they called? I kinda doubt they're supposed to be like that and its probably explaining my clunkity-clunk-clunk. What do you think?

 

Those would be sway bar bushings I do belive. That could be making some noise, the bar is supposed to be held much tighter by those bushings.

 

Yep, those are shot! While you are working on it, change out the sway bar end links too. They are cheap enough.

Don't forget to put some lube on those bushings when you put it back together or it'll squeak like mad!

 

Hey guys, well I just wanted to double check to make sure that it's most likely the sway bar bushings that are making the noise before I dump any cash into this. Somebody mentioned broken links but if I know what those are then my truck doesn't even have those. The swaybar is just mounted to the truck with brackets and bushings. Here's a picture of mine:

It appears the tire is rubbing against the sway bar too on sharp turns. It only seems to rub while moving since it won't touch while standing still.


It's the mount all the way to the far left (far right on the other side) at the end that is worn out (shown in earlier pictures).

 

Forgot all about this thread.... turns out that my torsion bar mounts snapped clean off the frame and as a result the torsion bars were banging around making that lovely noise. Happy to have fixed this.